Big Mike's Steakhouse - Orange Beach — Restaurant in Orange Beach

We went for dinner based on “everyone” recommending this restaurant for steaks. When we started to eat our salads and unwrapped our silverware, we only had 2 forks and no knife to cut up our salad. The waitress Ashley (according to our receipt) brought our bread and we asked for a knife for our salads. She told us they don’t give knives for salad and we would need to use and share the knife that came with our bread. She said it was policy and they did not have enough knives to go around. After my husband and I shared the bread knife to cut up our salad it was dirty. I asked the hostess if she could get us a clean knife so we could cut our bread and she said of course and would get our waitress. We explained to her our waitress refused to give us a knife and said we had to share and use the bread knife. Our waitress came back and we asked her for a new knife, she again told us no. Three times I said “I would like a clean knife please”, and she continued to argue and told me they don’t give knives for the salad, it was precut, they didn’t have enough knives for the restaurant. We explained that their lack of sufficient utensils was not our problem, and she proceeded to tell me it wasn’t her problem either. I admit at this point I had had enough of her attitude and excuses so I did curse and told her to bring me a blank-ing knife please. (We should have just gotten up and walked out). She continued to argue and we explained I asked for a knife please three times in this one exchange before I got heated. She finally walked off and brought us a steak knife to cut our bread. Have you ever tried to butter bread with a pointed steak knife? I’m sure that was not accidental. We told her it wasn’t fair that the restaurant put them in that position to tell customers they had to share knives and we would be happy to explain to the manager the predicament the servers are put in. The manager came over and we explained the situation and told her it was unfair for the servers and she said they don’t have enough knives because they disappear. She said it was NOT a policy they could not bring a customer a knife when asked like our waitress kept saying as the excuse. Our meal and appetite was ruined after the exchange with the waitress, and once we received our food we both agreed it was one of the worst we had tasted and should have gone to Texas Roadhouse. We also never received and refills of tea and water. I’m not saying the staff did do something to our food, but I do believe there is a high probability they did. We are pretty sure they picked the worst steaks to feed, more fat than edible meat for my husband. We spent $130 before tip for 2 people for dinner and a drink while we waited and left hungry. After telling others about our experience several people have said their experiences were not great either due to the food and the service. If I could give this place zero stars I would, and I definitely would not recommend this...

This was edited 1.5.24. We ate at Big Mike’s, OB twice on this trip, 12/29 and 12/30/2023. It was so good both nights. The first night we arrived around 4:35 and waited an hour. We were called exactly an hour later. We ordered crab claws (always), two ribeyes, two baked potatoes and salad. It was all fresh and delicious. The second night we arrived between 3:30 and 4:00 and went right in. We ordered crab claws (always), fried shrimp, ribeye and shrimp, two baked potatoes and salad. Fresh and delicious once again. We had the same waitress both nights. She was great! We have eaten at several places in this area. In our opinion none hold a candle to Big Mikes.

We’ve eaten at Big Mikes, OB many times while on vacation. We’ve never had a bad experience and the food…always so good. Our favorite. It seems everything about OB has been a bit different this year. It seems the locals are more rude. We’ve been visiting this area since the 80’s.

The wait time tonight was 1 hour to 1 1/2 hour. They send you a confirmation text which says you have two minutes to get to the host when you are sent the message that they are ready for you. If you have children in car seats or disabled people you better be quick. (this is if you choose to sit in your car AND you can find a parking space close by). Also you better have ALL your party with you or you won’t be seated. To get a beer while you wait you can no longer go to the bar. You must walk around all the way to the back of the bldg. We were seated in about 1 hour. We ordered two Big Mike's for two, (one medium and one medium well) a large ribeye, and a cheeseburger with fries. We sent half of the medium back. My husband was able to eat his part, but sorry I couldn’t eat my part that red. It was actually cooked medium rare. We sent it back and waited a good while. By the time I got it back I had finished my salad and most of my potato. The cheeseburger was red in places. We sent it back also. Our server was Ashley. She was good, but seemed to be in a hurry to get us fed and out. She wasn’t the friendliest person. I am sure she was tired as the ticket shows 9:05 pm. Total cost was $240.19 with a $40 gratuity. Pretty pricey for the experience this time around. I did not get pictures....

After hearing some good things about Big Mike’s our party of 4 adults decided to venture the 40 minute drive from home to check it out. Although we arrived before 6pm there was a 1.25 hour wait. Big Mike’s does not take reservations or have a call ahead list. There is no indoor bar available to relax before seating so we had to wait outside on the front porch in the humid late afternoon heat. There is an outdoor bar in the back of the restaurant but a member of our party had limited mobility so we decided to stay put. We were seated at about the time we were promised when we arrived. For appetizer, we shared a dozen char-grilled oysters. They were ok but I’ve had better at many restaurants in the area. For dinner, I shared a 16oz med rare ribeye with my daughter and my wife and sister both ordered the baseball cut sirloin (wife rare, sister med well). The sides ordered were garden salad, baked potato, baked sweet potato and potato casserole. The garden salads were not fresh or crisp. The potatoes were good. The ribeye was delicious but at least 1/4 was fat that we trimmed. So the 16 oz ribeye was more like 12-13 oz meat or 6oz for each of us. The med well baseball cut sirloin was prepared as ordered but was tough to cut. The rare cut came med rare and was also tough to cut. It could have been due to dull knives. We didn’t make a fuss over it because we were all starving. When the bill came it suggested minimum tip of 20% based on the total cost including sales tax. We paid in cash to take advantage of the 4% discount so I recalculated a 20% tip based on the cash price less sales tax which was calculated on the total cost not the cash price. That "saved" us $5 on a $191 food tab. I wrote out the calculations on the bill. Sounds petty but no one should ever pay tip on the total cost including sales tax because you're just padding the...